


The Novel

by weareeinsteinsmustache



Category: The Novel, my ocs - Fandom
Genre: Drama, High School, Multi, My OCs, band kids, main five
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-10
Updated: 2018-03-09
Packaged: 2019-03-29 08:34:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13923354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weareeinsteinsmustache/pseuds/weareeinsteinsmustache
Summary: This is a compilation of writing of my ocs, centered around two twins who were separated at birth and what drama happens when they rekindle.  There is no chronological order and not much consistency in anything but the characters maybe.  This is just a way for me to develop my characters that I have created.





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Art and stuff posted on my tumblr weareeinsteinsartblog.tumblr.com

The Beginning

Two young boys are playing in the backyard of a small, white house on the outskirts of a small city on the border of Colorado and Utah. They were each other’s best friend. They did everything together. They wore the same clothes, liked the same shows, and ate the same food at the same time everyday. If it wasn’t hard enough to tell them apart because they had identical faces, they also wore identical clothes and haircuts. The only physical difference between the two, is that they are mirror twins.

However, no one could figure out which one was which. The boys didn’t help with this either, exchanging their own names with each others’ name for the sake of confusing people. Their parents tried to differentiate them by trying to get them to wear different colored bracelets, but they would switch bracelets all the time, so that didn’t work. Nothing they tried worked. 

One day, they asked their mom and dad if they could get their ears pierced. At first their parents were against the idea and said no, but after thinking it over, they figured they would use it to their advantage. If the twins got their ears pierced, they would make them wear different colored earrings to tell them apart. They wouldn’t be able to switch earrings because they would have to keep them in until they healed. It was genius! So, after telling the boys that they could get their ears pierced, they were ecstatic, until when it came time to pick out their earrings, their mother decided for them. Now they could be told apart.

Stephen Jared had his hair naturally parted on the left side and wore red earrings, and Michael Connor had his hair naturally parted on the right side and wore black earrings. Now that they had a for sure way of telling them apart, they stopped the shenanigans and decided to be more different people.

They had a big fight in the summer after third grade that prompted Stephen to get a different haircut. Instead of a full head of shaggy hair, he asked his dad to buzz off the hair around his head, leaving a mop of long, thin hair on the top.

As the boys reached fourth grade, they started to notice the turmoil that has been boiling between their parents for years. They put aside their own brief rivalry for their own solidarity from their parents. At first, they were in denial. How could mom and dad possibly not love each other?

Well, apparently it’s very possible. They never kiss, they never embrace, they fight more often than they don’t. After noticing this, other things started becoming more noticeable. Their father’s depression, their mother’s drinking problem started to rear its head. They knew it was bad but they didn’t expect the announcement right before the of summer break before fifth grade that they were getting a divorce.

There was a custody battle and it got ugly. Going to courtrooms every other day, listening to their parents battle it out with yelling, having their own wants and opinions ignored on the daily. Eventually, a conclusion was reached. Stephen would stay in town with dad, and Michael would go with his mother to California. The boys were heartbroken.

Their mother said that she wouldn’t leave for another month, but one week later, in the middle of the night, she took Michael and left. Stephen was terrified when he woke up and his brother was gone from the bottom of their shared bunk bed. After this, his father became depressed. He never left the house and never put clothes on, he would just wander in his robe and/or underwear. Over fifth grade, Stephen became generally emotionless, only allowing himself to feel whatever happiness he could muster up.

He started acting up in class. Calling out, never sitting still, never focusing on his work. He was running all throughout recess. His father was worried that he was not mad or sad, that he just seemed emotionless whenever he wasn’t necessarily happy. After a while, Stephen Jared developed a way to seem like he was feeling more emotions when he wasn’t allowing himself to.

Five years went by before these boys saw each other again. Since Michelle, their mother, left, taking custody of one of her sons and her maiden name, things seemed to get normal. Whenever Stephen or his dad, Greg, tried to contact them, she would ignore them. She did not allow them to see her son, and she was able to get away with it since she had full custody of Michael and no custody of Stephen.

One day, Stephen, who now goes by his middle name, Jared, found out where his mom and brother were. He found her facebook page on accident. She was now going by her maiden name and actually had a boyfriend. She looked pretty much the same. Tan skin and light hair. If anything she just looked a little older. He actually found a picture of his brother. He used to know him as his brother Michael McCarthy, now he went as Connor Callahan. He figured that was his mother’s doing, considering Michael hated his middle name. He didn’t recognize him at first, despite them looking alike. He couldn’t help but think it’s funny how they’re both using their middle names now. Ironic.


	2. The Rest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the juicy stuff  
> at the bottom is stuff that i wrote and didn't like or that I wanted to use later or just wasn't happy with.

Navigating the new school campus was not as hard as Jared thought it would be. Although it’s bigger, it’s easy to navigate. Everything was separated into wings. During lunch he would just sit in his car and eat whatever he had with him that day. It was nice routine. That is until he saw him for the first time. At first he didn’t recognize him. He looked way different since he saw him last. He looked so...preppy. If Jared were to run into this guy at the gas station, he would probably be snide in conversation. He has a lettered cardigan in school colors over a light gray shirt. Not just what he wore but the way he carried himself, cocky and arrogant. They still had the same face. His hair was definitely different. It was still parted on the right side, but it was all similar length and it was lighter. He looks like he has spent a lot of time outside. Jared couldn’t believe it. Michael--Michael!--had some chick on his arm! How in the world he got a date before he did was beyond him.

After a few good minutes of over-thinking and creepy staring, Jared finally got the courage to approach the group that his long-lost brother was amongst. There was his brother, a girl on his arm, and one other girl who seemed to be friends with the previous girl. They were sitting at a picnic table a few feet from the one he was currently sitting at. He could hear bits and pieces of their conversation. The girls were mostly talking, his brother barely contributing.

“Oh my god, that guy over there had been staring at you for, like, ten minutes.”

“Really? I didn’t notice.”

“It’s super creepy.”

“Yeah.”

“Now he’s coming over here!”

“Ew, I don’t want to talk to him, he’s like, super weird!”

“Yeah, what if he’s like a perv or something?”

He ignored them and walked up behind Connor and tapped his shoulder. “Excuse me?” he asked as calmly as possible. “What is it?” he responded. Jared did not expect him to be so snappy. “Get outta here, freak!” Are these the people that Connor was friends with? “Yeah, what’s with all the staring, you creep?” Jared tried to salvage the conversation. “Um, I need to talk to Connor.” The girls grimaced and Connor flinched.

It took a bit but he remembered. Connor recognized that voice. It was like his own, only higher pitched. That was the first hint, but what confirmed his suspicions was this guy’s earrings. He had a pair just like them, only in black. They made eye contact and the situation clicked in both of their minds. Jared knew that Connor recognized him. Connor, however, had a reputation to uphold. He’s aware of how much of a jerk that makes him out to be, but his reputation has been the only thing keeping him afloat in this school. So, with the confused, expectant look in the girl's’ eyes focused on him, he said, “Hell no, leave me alone, freak.”

He turned away so he didn’t have to see the look in Jared’s eyes. He saw the snarky resentment on the girl’s faces, and expected Jared to be upset and hurt. Connor chanced a glance at him when he thought he was gone. Where he expected to be a look of hurt and sadness, he found a fist flying towards his face and before he knew it, he was thrown to the ground.

The girls were screaming and right when Connor thought he was going to pass out, it stopped. A faculty member had come and pulled Jared off of him. It took a minute but eventually he was able to open his eyes and see somewhat clearly. Jared looked enraged, teeth bared, tears streaming down his face, blood on his hands. Connor didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t feel anything, he was in shock.

Jared was looking at him with such pain and betrayal. He was dragged away to where a campus security police car was sitting having been summoned due to the outburst. Connor didn’t see what happened after that because his vision was blocked by Stacy. “Are you okay? I knew that guy was insane, he’s probably not even a high-schooler. He probably just escaped, like, an insane asylum or something.”. He could care less about Stacy right now. As the shock was starting to wear off, he was beginning to feel the pain in his face and abdomen. Before he could feel anything else he blacked out.

\--

 

Connor woke up in the hospital about five hours later. His mother and a nurse were standing by the door, talking quietly. It took a minute before the pain registered but once it did, Connor winced out loud, signaling to the adults in the room that he was conscious. “Oh, honey! You’re awake!”. Her talking reminded him that he had a massive headache. “I wish I wasn’t.”, he replied. He was missing his two front teeth, giving him a major lisp. It hurt his ribs to talk anyway.

“How are you doing, Connor?” the nurse asked. All Connor could do was give him the most sarcastic, deadpan look that he hoped conveyed oh, I’m doin’ pretty swell, it just hurts to breathe is all. 

“Okay, we’ll get you some more pain meds and the doctor will come check on you and tell you everything that you need to know, alright?” Connor just sighed a vague, “Uh, huh.” and let the nurse leave.

“What in the world happened?” he wished she wasn’t talking, but that’s like asking her to stop breathing.

“Ugh, I got beat up.” He thought it was obvious. 

“Why?” he just sighed again and tried to relax. He was in too much pain to be dealing with his mother. 

“How am I supposed to know?” she sighed in annoyance. 

“We’ll continue this after you get out of the hospital.” he didn’t offer her a reply.

 

\--

A couple of days passed and Connor was released from the hospital, but was told to take it easy, as he has some bruised ribs and one of his eyes is still swollen. He was missing his front two teeth, giving him a major lisp that he hated, but he knew there was nothing he could do about it. His mother still wouldn’t leave him alone. 

“Who did this to you?” Connor didn’t want to tell his mother that his brother was here in town, he knew she wouldn’t be happy about it. 

“Uh, I don’t know, I didn’t see who it was.” She looked skeptical. 

“Well, I hope they got locked away for this.” Connor cringed at the thought. 

“That’s a little harsh.” As she went on some rant about parents not raising their children right, he thoughts were being eaten about guilt. He know what he was going to do to try and make up for what he did.

It was Friday so he didn’t have to worry about people at school. He knew he missed a few days of classes but Makayla brought him his homework every day. He told her to leave him alone for the weekend so he didn’t have to worry about that. He has it all planned out. He feels bad about it but he really has no choice.

He has asked his mother in the past about why she picked him. She told him all sorts of stories about his father and his brother. How his brother was going to wind up like their dad. She told him plenty of stories about his father. About how he would treat her and how he would treat people in general. He was a bad, bad man. Connor is so glad that he’s not going to end up like his dad, and after this recent, family reunion, he’s pretty sure that his brother is just like their dad, so he’s a little weary about talking to him again. That doesn’t mean that he doesn’t feel bad about treating him the way he did in front of all those people.

\--

After getting thrown in the holding cell at the county jail, Jared couldn’t help but think about what happened. When did Michael change? Why did he change? What was it about Jared that made him act like that? Jared couldn’t even fathom how angry he was about it all. He’s never felt such strong emotions before. He doesn’t know what to feel. He looks down at his hands. His knuckles are bruised and bleeding. As a way of trying to get out of his head, he decides to try and make light of an unfortunate situation.

“Hey man, could I get some, like, bandages or something?” he tried asking the guard who was sitting at a desk in the corner of the room. 

“For what?” Jared lifted his hands. 

“I’m bleeding.” There was blood all the way down his arms.   
“I can see that.” Was all the guard responded with. 

 

“It’s just-you know-it hurts and um, I really don’t want to get blood on these jeans.” The guard just gave him a condescending look. 

“Well, you should have thought about that before assaulting a student for no apparent reason.” Jared almost got mad at him. It wasn’t just for no apparent reason. Instead he just huffed and sat down on the bench on the side of the cell.

After what felt like an hour, he was woken from his “nap” by someone talking to him.

“Hey, kid-” He glared at the guard talking to him. He was confused when the door to the cell was open. “-you’re free to go.” Jared just looked at him with as much confusion as he could convey on his face. 

“The charges were dropped and you were bailed out.” Jared stood up and walked towards him. 

“Who?” The guard shook his head. 

“I dunno, it was anonymous, but my guess was it was whoever pressed the charges.” Jared just hummed and walked out.

He stood in the lobby for a minute while the guard stared at him. He looked like he was waiting for Jared to do something. 

“What?” The guard just looked at him a second longer. He started to smirk. “Pfft, fine, I’ll just leave.” As Jared walked out of the building, he realized exactly what the guard was waiting for. He waited a second before walking back in, knowing how much of an idiot he looked like. 

“I need to use a phone.” The guard just laughed and walked back to his desk while the secretary just said, 

“Here you go sweetie.” before handing him a landline.

This was going to be fun. He dialed the number of his roommate, Daniel. 

“Hey! Dan, my man, how ‘ya doin’?” There was a pause. 

“Jared? Is that you? Where are you calling from? I’m at work, this better be important.” Why beat around the bush? 

“I need you to pick me up from the county jail.” There was a longer pause.

“I’ll be there in like, twenty minutes.” Jared breathed a sigh of relief. 

“Thanks, man.”

\--

It wasn’t until after Daniel had dropped them both off at their shared apartment that he seemed to process the whole situation. They were both sitting on the couch, turned to face each other. 

“Okay, so, as your roommate, and your friend, I need to know why the hell I just had to pick you up from the county jail with blood on your hands.” Jared chuckled a bit. 

“Heh, you caught me red-handed.” Daniel just glared at him. “Can I like, wash this off please?” Daniel just nodded and put his head in his hands. After he washed all of the blood off his arms and bandaged his knuckles, he went back to face the reality that he was trying to ignore.

“Okay, so, it happened at school-” he was interrupted by an, “-at school?!” Jared shushed him. 

“Yes, don’t interrupt me,-”

“-Sorry-”

“-Stop”

“Okay.”

“Anyways...” and Jared told him everything.

There was a long heavy silence where they both tried to find something to say. Instead of saying anything, Daniel just gave him a hug. It wasn’t until that moment that despite how nonchalant and unaffected he tried to seem during his summary, there were tears streaming down his face. Jared doesn’t even remember the last time he cried. He wanted to push Daniel away and deny everything and hide away in his room, but instead he returned the hug. He held on to his roommate and cried harder than he ever remembers crying in his life.

\--

Jared gets suspended for two weeks. In that time, he starts working extra shifts for extra cash. When he finally goes back to school, he can already sense the weariness in the atmosphere. No one said anything to him directly, just about him to each other. It’s not like he cared, we wasn’t planning on staying at this school longer than a year. He’s a junior, but he completed a bunch of credits during the summer and tested out of english so he could graduate as early as possible.

During one particular class, they had to work in partners. When they were announced, the kid who got paired up with Jared yelled, 

“Can I change partners?” The teacher just gave them a look.   
“Why?” The kid glared at him. 

“I don’t wanna get beat up!” The rest of the kids laughed, and apparently the teacher was not aware of the events that went down a couple weeks ago. 

“That’s ridiculous, Jared won’t beat you up, now get to work.” Jared just wanted to get this stupid lab done, but no, this kid has to be persistent in letting her know about what he did. 

“Yeah he will, he did it to Connor Callahan!” The teacher looked unconvinced and glanced at Jared.

He thought he was off the hook, until the teacher asked, 

“Is this true?” Jared just looked up at her from his seat, one eyebrow raised, waiting for someone else to tell her exactly what happened. Just as he predicted, several people started yelling various things. 

“Yeah!”

“He went to jail!”

“He’s insane!”

“He just did it for no reason at all!”

“He’s a psycho!”

One person yelled, “Look at his hands!”. Jared self-consciously shoved his hands in his pockets. The teacher just looked at him with a raised brow, but didn’t push. She just told the class to shut up and get their work done. He pulled out the lab and started working on it while his partner just kind of sat there staring at him. 

“It’s P67, Scarlet Power.” His lab partner’s face turned to complete confusion. 

“Uh-What?” Jared just raised his eyebrows in a condescending manner. 

“That’s the dye I use for my hair. I noticed you staring and figured you just wanted to know but were too afraid to ask.” It took a minute but eventually his partner figured it out. 

“O-Oh, yeah.” She shook her head and started to focus on the lab, finally. The two got it done fast, they worked pretty well together, so they had some down time.

“So…..why’d you do it? Did he say something to you that pissed you off or something?” she finally spoke up. She pushed up her thick-rimmed glasses up on her nose and stared at him with large, questioning, blue eyes. Jared contemplated for a moment, a little taken aback by her sudden actions. 

“Yeah, it’s kind of a long story, but he did say something that pissed me off. I went through a lot of trouble to see him, and he just insulted me and blew me off.” His partner, Casey was her name, nodded. 

“Yeah, that makes sense. Honestly, I would be pissed off too.” Jared was surprised that she agreed with him and didn’t try to argue him or anything. She kind of smiled at him. 

“You don’t seem like such a bad guy, I’m sure you had good reason.” He chuckled mirthlessly. 

“Yeah, I just wish other people could see that.”

\--

Connor thought everything was fine. His brother is out of jail, and he knows he won’t be bothering him at school anymore. His mother was finally happy with her new boyfriend. Connor didn’t like Christopher, but he had no choice. He made his mom happy, so he’s happy. He never did trust him though. Christopher really was a nice guy, he remembered his birthday, he bought him and his mom nice things, he was good for her. Connor couldn’t help but feel constant resentment towards him. Other than that, he thought everything was fine.

About two weeks after the fight with his brother happened, he came home from school and went to his room to do his homework. It was a normal day with no real happiness, just fake smiles and conversations. His mother came home from work around dinner time. She cooked. Connor can’t remember the last time his mother actually cooked for them. Did she even know how to cook? He found himself wondering. She called him down to the dinner table, which they had never really used for dinner before. There was Christopher, and a dish of lasagna on the table, with plates set out.

“Honey, sit down, have some dinner.” Connor didn’t eat much. He was too afraid to. His mother always warned him about getting overweight. She always went on and on about obesity and how bad it is and how “Hon, I will not let you ever get obese.” and “People who have obese kids are child abusers”. When he was a kid, we was definitely on the chubbier side. What could he say? He loved his sweets. But after they moved out to California, she started making him lose weight.

Connor was only 11 at the time and he didn’t understand. He was mad at her when she told him he couldn’t eat any sweets. Whenever they ate dinner, it was always salads and other organic things. Connor used to sneak food into his room that he would buy from the gas station. One day, she found out and yelled at him. Told him, “Are you planning to gain weight?”. She brought him down and told him about how normal people don’t like fat people. Now, he doesn’t eat dinner and has a minimal breakfast of an apple or something of the like. The only full meal that he ever has is at school during lunch, but eating made him nauseous. He hated the way he felt after eating more than a few bites. No one ever pestered him about it though. He was a little above average height, standing at about 5’11’’, but he only weighed about 150 pounds. Yet here he is, being told to sit down and eat. Pasta. With carbs.

He sat down across from her and Christopher. 

“So, how was school today?” she asked him. He didn’t know what was going on. 

“Um, fine I guess?” She hummed and smiled. 

“Well, aren’t you going to eat?” He just glared at the lasagna pan. Both Christopher and his mother cut themselves a piece, she handed him he spatula. He looked at the food on his plate and felt a wave of nausea hit him. Both from the food and the situation. 

“What’s going on? Am I in trouble?” he didn’t even touch his fork. 

“No, honey. We just wanted to tell you about something.” He glared at them, thinking about what they could possibly be talking about. 

“Are you guys engaged or something?”. They both chuckled awkwardly at that. 

“Um, no, actually,” his mom started, “I’m pregnant.”

\--

Jared was lounging on his couch with Daniel while they were watching movies. Daniel had a headband to keep his long, curly locks out of his face. That’s genius, I should do that Jared thought. His hair was always getting in his face and he constantly found himself thinking about how to fix this problem without having to get a haircut. He was still contemplating when a knock came at the door. It was almost eleven o’clock at night, so they both wondered who in the world this could possibly be. Not only was it dark, but it was raining, too. Jared and Daniel shared a look. 

“It’s probably the FBI here to arrest you ‘cause they found all the illegal porn you have saved on your computer.” Jared said. 

“Piss off.” Daniel retorted back and went to open the door. He saw someone he recognized from school. 

“Connor?”, he asked. Jared froze. It’s probably a different Connor, he thought to himself, trying to calm himself down. He became painfully aware of his still-bruised knuckles. 

“H-hey, is-um-is Jared here?” he asked in a shaking voice. 

“Uh, yeah, hey Jared! It’s for you!” he called back. Jared slowly got up off the couch and walked around the wall through the doorway, and was suddenly face-to-face with his brother.

Connor looked like a sad, miserable puppy. Jared waited for him to come in, but he didn’t. All he said was, “Mom’s pregnant.”. Jared didn’t move. He just stood there, ten feet from the doorway. “Okay.” was all he could respond with. Daniel decided to contribute to the conversation, in light of being awkwardly stuck in the middle of it. 

“Do you, uh, wanna come in?”. He asked Connor. He slowly nodded and walked in through the door. He was shivering and didn't have a jacket on. Jared had so many things that he wanted to say. He had so many questions. He settled on asking, “How did you find out where I lived?”. Connor just looked away in shame. 

“I may have...um, followed you home?” Daniel piped up. 

“That’s creepy.” Connor awkwardly chuckled. 

“Yeah...I’m sorry, I just thought you needed to know and I, um, didn’t know how to uh t-talk to you.” Jared glared at him. 

“I didn’t, but thank you.” There was another awkward pause as the three of them stood in a triangle right in front of the door.

“Do you want something to eat? Maybe a drink? You look cold, man.” Daniel offered. Connor just looked up at him and nodded slowly. 

“Alright, kitchen’s this way.” He didn’t have to walk far as the kitchen is visible from the doorway. It was a small apartment. 

“So, what do you want? We’ve got coffee, hot chocolate, we have some mac and cheese and some ramen. That’s about it.” Connor answered quietly. 

“Just coffee, is fine.” Daniel nodded. 

“Coffee it is.” Jared had been watching silently from the other side of the wall opening that connected the kitchen and the living room. He was seated at the bar observing their interactions. Daniel knew about Connor and everything, Jared told him the situation, but Jared didn’t know how he would react to meeting him. He didn’t expect this.

 

After about an hour of this tense silence, Daniel decided to do something about it. 

“Welp, I’m going to bed now, goodnight!” and walked off to the living room. 

“Wait, Daniel I need to talk to you about something real quick.” Daniel gave him a snarky look. 

“Okay.”, he responded and walked towards Jared’s bedroom. Jared closed the door so Connor couldn’t hear them. Ever since Connor showed up, Jared’s been nothing but disengaged and detached, but for the first time tonight, Daniel saw emotion on his face. He was panicked and scared. 

“Dude, please, you can’t leave me here alone with him.” Jared whisper-shouted.

“Okay, okay, chill. Look, I’m sure it will be fine, just talk to him! You obviously need to.” Jared panicked some more. 

“No! I can’t! I don’t know what to do, I don’t know what’s going on I need help, please don’t leave me.” Jared was grabbing Daniel’s shoulders, and while he usually towered over him, being a half a foot taller, in this situation, for the first time ever, Jared seemed so small. Daniel sighed in exasperation. 

“Okay, I’ll just stay in the living room. You guys can talk, and I’ll be right there in the other room, it will be fine, okay?” Jared didn’t look satisfied but agreed nonetheless. 

“Okay”.

 

After Jared had calmed down, he went back out to the kitchen where Connor was still silently staring at his coffee. 

“Hey.” he greeted quietly. Connor acknowledged his presence with a nod. Jared sat down in the chair next to him on the side of the rounded table. 

“So, she’s pregnant huh?” Connor finally looked up at him and nodded. 

“Yep.” Jared felt awkward for so many reasons, but he had just become astutely aware that he was still just in his boxers and a muscle tee. 

“Do you uh, need a change of clothes? You’re all wet.” Connor looked down as if he had just realize that he was, in fact, still soaked from the rain outside. 

“Oh, yeah sure.” Jared nodded and left. He grabbed a spare tee shirt and some sweatpants, and then put on sweatpants of his own. He walked back out and offered Connor the clothes. 

“Here, the bathroom’s just right over there.” Connor nodded in thanks and walked down the hall to change.

\--

Daniel was just playing video games when Jared came home. This was normal, however what wasn’t normal is that Jared had brought a friend. 

“Oh, Jared, you didn’t tell me we were having guests! I would have cleaned the kitchen and made some little snacks!” He put on a stereotypical, suburban housewife voice. 

“Oh, yeah, Daniel, this is Casey, Casey, this is my roommate, Daniel.” She nodded. 

“‘Sup?” He nodded back. 

“Hey.” Daniel got up off the couch and walked over to her. He now put on a stereotypical, suburban dad voice. 

“So, what are your intentions with my son?” Casey looked confused at first, but started to play along. 

“Oh, you know, we were just going to go out for a milkshake then drive up to Makeout Point and get it on in the back of your car.” Daniel laughed, caught off guard. 

“All right, just have him home by ten and use protection.” She nodded. 

“Will do, sir! I’ll take good care of him.” They both laughed. During this whole conversation, Jared was hiding behind the fridge door, pretending he was looking for food, when in actuality, he was hiding his very, very red face.

Daniel called towards him. “I like this one, you should keep her!” Jared mumbled something under his breath along the lines of “I hate you, please go away.” Daniel walked into the kitchen and sat at the table. 

“Sorry, what was that?” Jared stood up and looked at him. 

“I’m not your son!” Casey also sat down at the table, opposite to Daniel. 

“You’re younger than me, that means that you’re my son.” Jared sat down next to Casey and offered her a Sprite. 

“I’m not your son.” Daniel laughed again. 

“No, but I’m your daddy.” Jared shoved his head into his arms to hide his embarrassment while Casey and Daniel were laughing at his misery. 

“I should have never introduced you to each other.” Casey stopped laughing enough to talk. 

“Aww, no, don’t you think I should be meeting the most important people in your life?” Jared sat up straight again. A stern, “No” is all that he said. 

“C’mon, why not?” He looked her in the eyes. 

“Because everyone I’m close with is horrible.” Casey laughed again. 

“Wow, how rude? I’m great, man.” Daniel defended himself. Casey validated him. 

“I’m sure you are, dude.”

After they all had calmed down, Daniel finally spoke. 

“So, are you guys dating or…?” They both looked at each other. 

“Um, no…?” Jared said. 

“I mean, he hasn’t taken me on a date yet or anything.” Daniel nodded in understanding. 

“Yeah, he hasn’t taken me out yet, either so it’s okay.” Casey laughed. Jared was embarrassed

“Dude, shut up!” This day was the start of a new and beautiful friendship between Daniel and Casey.

\--

After a couple of weeks and a couple of dates, Jared and Casey made it official that they were dating. Good ol’ fashioned boyfriend and girlfriend, and in this time, Daniel and Casey also became quite close. They were dating for about a month or so when Jared approached Daniel. 

“Hey, uh, we’re like, friends right?” Daniel was confused but nodded. 

“Yeah…” Jared nodded. 

“Okay, and, uh, we like, tell each other stuff right? And like, you wouldn’t go behind my back or anything right?” Daniel nodded again. 

“Of course, dude. Why are you asking all of this?” Jared looked nervous.

“Well, it’s just-I’m not trying to accuse you or anything, or say you did or didn’t do anything. I just want you to tell me the truth.” Daniel was more confused now than he was before. He tried to think if he did anything recently to warrant this from Jared, but he couldn’t think of anything. 

“Okay...what’s up, then?” Jared looked him in the face. 

“Are you trying to get with Casey?” Daniel was shocked. Why the hell would he think that sort of thing? He also couldn’t help but laugh a little bit on the inside. 

“No way, man. I’d never try to get with someone you were already with. Even if she did like me like that I don’t like her like that.” Jared looked skeptical. 

“Are you sure? It’s just--you guys have been spending, like, a lot of time together and you sort of act like you’re into each other and you never tell me what you’re talking about.” Daniel laughed and shook his head. 

“I’m completely positive, I’m not into her.” Jared chuckled. 

“That’s hard to believe, she’s so amazing, it’s hard not to be into her.” Daniel agreed. 

“Yeah, she is awesome and I’m sure lots of people are into her, and I’m sure I would be too but I’m gay, dude.”

\--

*a few months later*

Jared, Connor, Daniel, and Casey were all out at lunch. Connor had temporarily moved in with Jared and Daniel, and Casey spent the night a lot. They all had become pretty tight-knit after everything that happened. Connor learned that his dad and brother were not horrible like how his mother always told him, and Jared realized that his mother is not as crimeless as his father made her out to be. Everyone was healing both psychologically and physically. Connor now had to wear a denture retainer to replace his front teeth which gave him a permanent lisp. He had broken up with Makayla and was now free of his mother. In both instances, both women had shed tears and there was lots of anger. Connor didn’t really want to see either one again, but fate has other plans.

As they were eating their lunch, they noticed some familiar faces stroll in through the door. As Makayla, and her friend Nicole, enter the diner, the four friends tried to hide behind their menus. This, however, didn’t work, seeing as Makayla spotted them immediately. She walked over to their booth while Nicole strolled slowly behind her. They were expecting some loud, boisterous, passive-aggressive greeting, but that’s not what they got. What they got was a shy, “Hey, guys.” 

They all kind of looked at each other with surprise, but didn’t question it. Jared finally spoke up. 

“Hello Makayla. What are you doing here?” He’ll admit, he was trying to be sassy and upfront about it. He didn’t expect her to cringe as if she was bracing herself for that exact thing. 

“Um, I know that I was like, really mean to all of you, mostly Connor, but to all of you and, um, I just,” she held back tears and took a deep breath, “I just want to apologize, to all of you.” She looked down in shame. They looked at each other in shock. Connor finally spoke. 

“So, what brings this on all of a sudden? You think you can bully me- us- and just, expect us to accept your lousy apology?”

Makayla looked lost. She tried to hold back her tears again before she found her voice. 

“I know, that, what I did was messed up, and, um, I know you guys shouldn’t forgive me, but I wanted to at least thank you, for, um, helping me realize that, I don’t have to put on a façade just to get people to like me, or whatever. I was never happy with my life, and I thought it was because I wasn’t good enough or whatever. I just, wanted to fit in. I don’t know, it was hard and you guys just, I don’t know, helped me, I guess? I know it probably sounds stupid, and I’m not expecting you to forgive me all of a sudden, I just, wanted to let you know. So, y’know, thanks, I’ll just go now--” Casey stopped her. 

“Wait! Let me out” Jared got up so she could get out of the booth.

Makayla looked scared of Casey. She didn’t know what she was going to do to her. Was she going to punch her? Was she going to yell at her? That’s at least what Makayla expected, but that’s not even close to what happened. Casey hugged her. It was a real hug. Not a chokehold, not a body slam, but a firm hug. After getting over her shock, Makayla cried and hugged her back. Casey let her go and took a step back. 

“Thanks for, y’know, apologizing or whatever. I believe you.” Makayla nodded.

“Thanks.”, was all she could say through choked tears. She sniffled and wiped her nose before backing away from the booth and going over to where Nicole was standing, watching this whole ordeal off to the side. Nicole hugged her.

Casey sat back down in the booth next to Jared. Jared and Connor were staring at her and Daniel was smiling over at Makayla and Nicole. He was the first to speak out of all of them. 

“I’m happy for them.” 

Connor and Jared were awakened from their stupor of awe. It took them a minute of confusion but they figured out who he was talking about. They looked over to where Makayla and Nicole were now sitting on the same side of the booth. Nicole had her arm around Makayla's slightly smaller frame as they shared a milkshake. Makayla had stopped crying and she was happy. For the first time that she can remember, she was really happy.

\--

One scolding, hot summer day, Daniel and Jared were just lounging on their collective day off, trying to cool off because the AC in the building was busted, and there was something Jared had been wanting to talk to Daniel about for a while now. 

“What do you do?” Daniel lazily looked over at him. 

“What?” Jared wasn’t looking at him, too tired and sweaty to move.

“Like, we’ve been friends and roommates for a while and...I don’t know, like, anything about you. What do you do? Do you do any extracurriculars or anything?” 

Daniel hummed in thought and looked back up towards the ceiling. 

“Uh, I dunno man, I do a lot of things. I have a lot of free time out of school because I don’t take a lot of classes, only the ones I need, being a super senior and all.” Jared nodded. 

“Like what?” 

Daniel thought for a minute. 

“Well, in the summer, I do marching band.” Jared looked over at him. 

“Really?” Daniel nodded. 

“Yeah, and I used to play baseball, but they wouldn’t let me on this year since I didn’t graduate and I’m older than everyone else.”

“That’s stupid.” Daniel laughed. 

“Yeah. I’m also in band. Like, concert band and I’m in the jazz band.” Jared responded.

“I had no idea. I never hear you practice any instruments or anything?” Daniel nodded. 

“Yeah, that’s ‘cause I don’t practice here, I’m wouldn’t be allowed to.”

“Why not?”

“Noise complaint.”

“Oh.”

Their conversation died a little for a few minutes before Jared spoke again. 

“So...if you don’t practice here, where do you practice?” 

Daniel thought for a moment. 

“Eh, mostly in the band room when it’s not being used. Before and after school, during lunch, during study halls, just whenever.” 

Jared never knew that, but to be fair, he’s only been going to this particular school for a little over a year, he started the beginning of junior year and he’s now in his senior year. He didn’t know that Daniel was in the class above him until he mentioned that he didn’t graduate and was going super senior to get his diploma. Still, Jared couldn’t believe that he never knew that Daniel was a musician. It seems like something he should know.

 

They next day at school, Jared decided he was going to go to the band room during lunch to watch Daniel practice. He didn’t know where the band room was at first but after asking around he found it. Of course it was in the Fine Arts wing, he should have known that. Once he got to the band room, the doors were closed but he could hear muted sound coming from inside. Soundproof. That makes sense. He opens the door and there’s a few people in there all with different instruments. There was a tall boy with bleached hair and a girl with a spunky hair cut, both playing some xylophone thingy that Jared didn’t what it was, another boy with a saxophone, a boy with a single drum on a harness and finally, Daniel had four drum things hanging from a harness that he was wearing. That’s weird.

At first he thought Daniel was messing around. He was saying things like “watch this, watch this!” and hitting his drums like a kid who didn’t know what he was doing. Jared wondered for a brief moment what instrument he actually plays, but that thought gets cancelled when the spunky xylophone player says, “Let’s play the whole show.” and Daniel complied and counted them off. They started playing a fast-paced song that sounded really cool Jared slowly slipped in the door, trying to be as quiet as possible. He sat down on the floor against the wall. It sounded kind of awkward with all these percussion instruments and then just a single saxophone, but it sounded amazing nonetheless. He was entranced by this ‘performance’. They were all so good, he couldn’t believe it.

They played three whole songs, back to back, without looking at any music or anything. After they finished, they all looked worn out. 

Finally, the girl said, “Second piece needs more work, especially the beginning.” Everyone nodded. 

Daniel added, “And the percussion feature in third piece needs to be cleaned up.” Everyone agreed again. 

Jared spoke up, “I thought they sounded good.” 

Everyone jumped, not knowing he was there the whole time.

“Jared, what the hell are you doing here?” Jared stood up. 

“I wanted to watch you play. I didn’t know what instrument you played and I was curious.” 

Daniel looked exasperated. The other guy with the drum spoke to him.

“Danny, are you gonna introduce us to your friend?” 

Daniel sighed. He hated it when people called him that. “This is Jared, we live together.” 

All four of them “ooh?”’ed and catcalled.

“You all are stupid.” is all that he responded with. He then continued on to introduce them. He pointed to the guy who spoke up first. 

“This is Jimmy, he plays the snare,” 

He pointed at the spunky xylophone player and her friend, 

“that’s Matthew and Jess, they play mallets, they’re siblings,” 

He then pointed to the young kid with the saxophone, 

“and then that’s Andrew, he plays the tenor sax.” 

Jared nodded, “and what do you play?”. 

Daniel gestured to his drums. “Tenor drums.” 

Jared just nodded like he knew anything about what he just said. He didn’t know what half of those instruments are but they sounded cool. 

“So...what are those songs for? Are you guys, like, a band or something?” 

Andrew responded, “Yeah, marching band.” 

Jared nodded. “Cool. So, like, are those the only songs you play or what?” 

Jimmy shook his head. “No, there’s the parade music.” 

Jess added, “and the cadence!”

Jared was confused. “What’s a cadence?” 

The percussionists all looked at each other while Andrew rolled his eyes and sighed. Before Jared could ask any questions, another person burst into the room. They didn’t say anything, they just grabbed another (larger) drum and hit it. Then they hit it twice. Then they hit it once again. Then they hit it three times. It was just this person playing for a little bit before everyone else joined in. He didn’t even notice Jess run and grab some cymbals. They were playing with such a catchy beat. Andrew and a random girl who walked in started dancing. Jared was watching Daniel jam on his drums. After living with him for a year and a half, he has learned well just how clumsy and uncoordinated he is. He drops things a lot and sometimes misses the door handle when trying to open a door. Despite this, he plays his drums so precisely and accurately it looks like second nature.

 

After the little jam session was over, Jared was amazed, but still confused. 

“That was awesome. Who is that over there that came in at a really convenient time? And the girl?” 

Jimmy laughed. “That’s Tom, I texted him a few minutes ago that we were gonna be playing, he came right down. And that’s Nicole, she’s in the color guard.” 

Jared nodded. “So what kind of drum is that?” 

Tom rubbed it lovingly, “A third bass drum.” he said proudly. 

Again, Jared nodded like he understood. Tom was a short, skinny boy with an unruly mop of red, curly hair on his head that looked like a cloud. He looked really young, he didn’t even look like a high schooler. He looked even smaller next to the large drum he was playing on.

“What grade are you guys all in?” 

They all told him. Andrew’s a freshman, Tom is a sophomore, Jess is a junior, Matthew and Jimmy are seniors, and Daniel is a super senior. Matthew and Jimmy hugged each other and pretended to cry.

“We’re graduating this year!”

“I don’t know what I’m doing with my life!”

“I’m failing English!”

“I don’t want to stay here another year! No offense, Daniel.”

“None taken.”

They continued doing that until the bell rang, letting everyone know that lunch was over. 

 

The next morning, Jared got to school way earlier than he usually does and he didn’t have anything to do. He decided to go to the band room to see if anyone was there. He doubted there would be people there this early, but he could hang in there himself. Once he got there, he walked in. He was surprised the door was open. He was also surprised to see that a whole band was in there. They were in the middle of a song, so Jared sat down on the ground as quietly as possible. The music they were playing was jazzy. Must be Jazz Band, he thought. He remembered Daniel mentioning that.

He looked around and recognized some people. Daniel was on the drum kit, he saw Andrew playing his saxophone, Jimmy was on an upright bass, Tom was on the piano, and Jess was playing the trumpet. Jared had no idea these people played more than one instrument. Jared sat there until they were done, which was right before the bell rang. As everyone was cleaning up, he walked over to Jimmy. He looked a lot shorter than he usually does, standing next to the large instrument. 

“Hey, I didn’t know you played the cello!” 

He jumped and then laughed. So did some other people who overheard this exchange. 

“Oh! Yeah, I-uh-yeah. It’s a bass, actually, but yeah.” 

Jared blushed in embarrassment. 

“Oh, sorry. I don’t really know a whole lot about this.” 

Jimmy laughed again. “That’s okay, neither did I at first.” 

Jared nodded. “So, you play bass and drums?”

“Um, yeah. I also play trombone in concert band as well.” 

Jared didn’t know that there was a concert band. “That’s cool! You get to play, like, concerts?” 

He laughed. “Yeah? We play a lot of concerts and we go to some festivals throughout the year.” 

Now, Jared was thinking like, rock concerts at huge venues and festivals like Warped Tour or Coachella or something. This, obviously, is not the case. 

\--

 

The Dialogue Box  
Jared and Daniel:

“Dude, this door is discriminatory against left-handed people.”  
“You’re just embarrassed that you ran into the door in front of all those people.”  
“It’s not my fault, it’s the door’s fault.”  
“Well, if the world catered exclusively to left-handed people, it would really suck for right-handed people.”  
“Then just, I don’t know, make them slide down into the ground or something, or make them all, like, elevator doors.”  
“I think that would be too expensive.”  
“Make them free.”  
“I don’t that that’s how it works, man.”  
“Whatever.”

\--  
Makayla and another girl

“So then Stacy McConnell said that Lindy said that Lexie and Jason are dating but Lexie is going to the dance with Harvey--”  
“Harvey Johnson?”  
“No the other one, anyway so just now she said that she would go on a date with Jake!”  
“Oh yeah! I heard about this from--”  
“Don’t interrupt me!”  
“Sorry.”

\--  
Teacher calling roll and Connor

“Abrams?”  
“Here”  
“Adamson?”  
“Here”  
“Callahan?”  
“...”  
“Callahan? Connor Callahan?”  
“What? Oh, here?”  
“Did I mispronounce your name?”  
“Uh...no.”  
“Alright, try to pay more attention.”  
“Yes, ma’am.”

“Dude, what was that about?”  
“I’m just-- uh, nevermind, it’s not a big deal.”  
“Okay, whatever.”

\--  
A girl (Stacy) and Connor 

“Do you have your ears pierced?”  
“Uh, yeah. Why?”  
“Your parents actually let you do that?”  
“Um, yeah, actually it was kind of their idea.”  
“Why aren’t you wearing any earrings?”  
“Why aren’t you?”  
“Fair point.”  
“...”  
“That’s so weird.”  
You’re so weird. “What is?”  
“I just wouldn’t have thought that you would have your ears pierced.”  
“Crazy world I guess.”  
“Yeah.”  
“...”  
“Do you have any other piercings?”  
“Leave me alone, Stacy.”

\--  
A schoolmate and Jared

“Why don’t you ever talk about your mom?”  
“Uh, why don’t you ever talk about your mom?”  
“‘Cause she’s lame. I don’t think I’ve ever even met your mom.”  
“That’s ‘cause you haven’t.”  
“Why not?”  
“She doesn’t live here.”  
“Oh? Where does she live?”  
“I don’t know.”  
“So are you all by yourself or something?”  
“No, I live with my dad.”  
“He isn’t with her?”  
“Nope.”  
“What? Are they divorced or something?”  
“Yeah.”  
“Oh, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have brought it up.”  
“Then why are you still talking to me about it?”  
“I just-- I didn’t know. I’m sorry.”  
“It’s fine, I don’t really care.”  
“Okay.”  
“...”  
“Do you miss her?”  
“Not really.”  
“You seem sad about it.”  
“I’m sad that we’re still having this meaningless conversation.”  
“Oh, sorry.”

\--  
Daniel and Jared

“Hey man.”  
“What are you doing in my apartment?”  
“I, uh, got...lost?”  
“You sound as if you’re unsure.”  
“Yeah, I kinda got kicked out by my folks? And I heard you talkin’ the other day about how you were struggling to pay rent all by yourself so I figured, ‘Heeyyyy, what if we were roommates?’”  
“No.”  
“Why not?”  
“I can pay the bills fine on my own.”  
“Oh, I’m sure you can.”  
“So why are you still trying to convince me to let you live here?”  
“Okay, okay, think about this; okay, so I start living here and I pay half of all the things. It’ll be like a long-lasting sleepover. Neither of us have to deal with paying full rent. It will be amazing.”  
“Do you even have a job?”  
“Uh, sure I do.”  
“You don’t sound so sure.”  
“Dude, I work as a DJ at the [place idk] down the street.”  
“What? Since when?”  
“Since, like, a year and a half ago, dude.”  
“I go there all the time, what nights do you work?”  
“I DJ Fridays and Saturdays and I work the counters on all the other days.”  
“Huh.”  
“What?”  
“Nothing, I just can’t believe I never noticed you there before, but I guess it’s been a while. Okay, I guess I’ll let you live here, but what are we gonna do about sleeping arrangements? This place is one-bedroom, one-bathroom.”  
“Dude, this couch is totally fine. It’s way better than the floor at my old place.”  
“Your parents made you sleep on the floor?”  
“Yeah, I’ll just keep all my clothes and stuff in that closet over there and get ready in the bathroom.”  
“Wouldn’t we be getting ready at the same time?”  
“I don’t go to first or second period.”  
“How are you even passing those classes if you never show up?”  
“I finished the credits over the summer. I work until one or two in the morning, then sleep for eight hours, then go to school.”  
“Huh.”  
“Yeah, so it all kinda works out doesn’t it?”  
“Actually, yeah, it does.”  
“So we gonna do it?”  
“You sound like you’re trying to seduce me. Badly.”  
“I kind of am.”  
“Oh, well, it’s working apparently.”  
“So is that a yes?”  
“Yeah, sure, why not?”  
“Sweet.”

\--  
Jared and Daniel

“I think I made a friend today.”  
“Oh, yeah?”  
“Yeah.”  
“Well, who is it?”  
“Her name’s Casey.”  
“Ooh, Casey, huh?”  
“Yeah, she was really nice to me today.”  
“Does she like you?”  
“Um, I think so? She said I was “not such a bad guy” but that’s better than “psycho”, so I’ll take that.”  
“‘Not such a bad guy’, she is so into you, man!”  
“No way, there’s no way she likes me like that.”  
“What makes you say that?”  
“I don’t know, she just seemed like she wanted to be friends, not boyfriend and girlfriend.”  
“Whatever you say man, my money’s on her asking you out within the week.”  
“Oh, jeez, I don’t know. I’m not even sure if I like her like that.”  
“What? She’s super cute and nice, how could you not be into her?”  
“I don’t know, maybe you’re right. I’m just too hung up on this whole thing with my brother, maybe I do need to distract myself.”  
“That’s the spirit.”  
“Besides, she is really cute and nice.”  
“Yeah.”  
“...”  
“So...do you have a girlfriend?”  
“Nope.”  
“Why not?”  
“I just never needed one I guess.”  
“Well, we should find you a girlfriend.”  
“Nah, I don’t really want one.”  
“That’s fair.”

\--

The Pile of Rejects:

I was at school or whatever and I saw my brother that I haven’t seen since, like, fifth grade and we used to be best friends and we were like, super close but he was with these really mean girls and I walked over there and they called me a pervert and I asked if I could talk to him and they were all like, “no” and I was like “please” and he was like “no, leave me alone, freak” and I got mad and punched him and threw him to the ground and I think I blacked out for a second but before I knew it I was being pulled away by these police dudes and they cuffed me and I started trying to fight them so they knocked me out and I woke up in a holding cell and there was this really mean security guy who wouldn’t let me wash the blood off my arms and then I took a nap and he said that all the charges were dropped and that someone bailed me out and that’s when I called you.

\--

 

The next day while Connor was visiting Jared in his holding cell, another person showed up. Connor didn’t know him but Jared seemed to. “Dude! You actually got yourself thrown in jail! What did you do, man?” Connor stood up and laughed. In the two days that Jared and been with him, he had not laughed. “Uh, aggravated assault?” He phrased it like a question. “Assault?! Dude, I never would have guessed that’s what you would get arrested for. I was thinking, like, theft because you accidentally stole a pen from Walgreens that you were fiddling with or something.” Jared laughed. “Wow, you don’t think that I would commit an actual crime.” The guy laughed and walked over to the cell bars where Jared was standing. “Nah, I just didn’t think you would commit a crime like aggravated assault.” Jared sighed, “Me, neither, honestly.”

The was a brief pause and Connor cleared his throat. They both flinched and looked at him. “I’m sorry, who are you?” He didn’t mean to sound rude, but he wanted to know who this person was that his brother seemed so close with. “Oh, uh, he’s my, um, roommate.” Jared responded. “Nice to meet you, I’m Daniel.” He held out his hand to shake and looked at Connor for the first time since he got there. “Hi, I’m Connor.” Daniel squinted at him. Connor waited for the moment of realization to hit him. “Dude…” he started, now looking to squint at Jared. “Are you two like...related or something.” Jared smiled. “Why do you ask?” Daniel looked back to Connor. “You guys have like, the same color eyes.”

The twins looked at each other. “That’s funny ‘cause he also have the same nose.” Daniel looked at Connor, then and Jared, then back to Connor. “Oh, yeah, you do. Are you guys like, brothers or something.” All Jared responded with was, “... yeah.” Daniel just hummed and looked between the two, looking like he was ready to change the subject.

\--

After a day of meds and sleep, Connor was discharged from the hospital, but was required to take it easy and not move around as much as possible. The first thing Connor did when he got out of the hospital, was go to the county jail. He walked in with as much confidence that he could muster considering he was limping harshly and struggling to breathe.

“Hi, I’m looking for Stephen Jared McCarthy, is he here?” he asked the woman over the counter. He cringed at his awful lisp, but let it slide, seeing as how he will probably never see her again anyway. She looked something up on her computer and called a guard to show him the way to the holding cell.

“Hi.”

“Hello.”

“How are you today?”

“Nice weather we’re having, eh?”

Connor tried to make small talk, but the big guy wasn’t hearing it. “Right in here, sir.” was all he said when they reached the cell. “Uh, thanks.” He just hummed and stood in the corner of the room, eyeing Jared warily. He was sitting on his bed with his head down, lost in thought. It wasn’t until Connor said his name again that he even seemed to realize that there were other people in the room.

“What are you doing here?” he asked. Connor doesn’t know what he was expecting. He knows that what he did was messed up. “I, uh, just wanted to see how you were doing. I, um, I wanted to apologize.” Jared gave him an incredulous look. “Sorry if I’m a little skeptical, it wasn’t too terribly long ago that you wanted me to leave you alone forever.” Connor winced. He knew what he had done, and he knew that he deserved everything that was coming to him, but that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t want to make things right.

\--

Jared couldn’t stand looking at his brother. He had cuts and bruises all over his face. He looked horrible. I did that, that was my fault, that was my doing, I did that. He was feeling so much guilt. But at the same time, he kind of feels like it was warranted. That was a dick move that he pulled, calling him a freak like that in front of everyone. Yeah, hi, it’s me, your twin brother whom you haven’t seen in like, five or six years. Yeah I got a job and bought an apartment and moved three states away just so I could see you. Oh, you want me to leave you alone? Well that’s just too bad now, isn’t it.

\--

It was the start of summer vacation and Daniel, Casey, and the twins decided it would be fun to go swimming. However, once they got to the local pool, there was way too many people and the line was far too long.

“Why did they entire population of California decide to go to the same pool as us?” Jared inquired. 

“I don’t think they did it on purpose, dude.”

Jared just huffed in annoyance. They all complained for a few minutes, that is until Mckayla walked by and spotted them. Despite her reconciliation, the group of friends were reluctant to trust her right away. She walked over to them, and they braced themselves for something bad to happen.

“Hey guys, this place is super loaded, do you want to go to the place a town over with me?”

The group looked at each other, silently asking if everyone agreed. They all nodded and decided to go. They followed Mckayla to the place that she was talking about. Once they got there, Jared, Daniel, and Casey were quick to jump in the water, while Connor and Mckayla opted to lounge on the artificial beach-like area.

“So, um, how have you been Mckayla?”

“I’m alright.”

“How’s your first week of summer vacation been?”

“Pretty good so far.” She was lying but she wasn’t going to tell him that. This whole situation was awkward for both parties. Mckayla’s life was completely turned on its head when Connor dumped her. Mckayla was the first friend that Connor made when he moved to California and over time they grew closer. They went to the art museum for their first date. That was one of the best days of Mckayla’s life because she had cemented herself as the person she thought she wanted to be in order to make it in life. She had convinced herself that she was a certain way. She had convinced herself that she was confident and that she was going to make it, so when Connor suddenly dumped her, it completely pulled the rug out from under her life. Everything that she thought she knew had been put into question and she had no idea who she was anymore. Needless to say, being alone with the person who was responsible for her identity crisis was a little bit awkward.

They spend the rest of their time together in silence before the rest of the group came over. 

“Hey guys, I’m about ready to leave.”

“Yeah, me too.”

Connor and Mckayla were definitely on board with leaving, but Mckayla decided to stay. She wanted to try swimming on her own. She remembers it being fun when she was a kid. So when the rest of the group left, she stayed. She left her cover-up on a dry seat and walked over to the deep part of the pool used for recreational swimming. As she lowered herself into the water, she remembered one crucial detail; she never learned how to swim properly.

As a kid, she always stayed in the shallow end on the jungle gyms. So as she got into the water, she started to panic and once her head was under the water, she was in full panic mode. She felt like she was being swallowed whole. She couldn’t feel anything, she couldn’t see anything. Whenever she opened her eyes, they would burn and she would have to close them again. She didn’t know where she was. What if she hit her head on a wall? What if someone got her? Anything could happen and she wouldn’t know. She tried to scream for help, but whenever she opened her mouth, she would choke. She plunged into blackness and when she emerged she was met with a face. On her face. And a mouth. On her mouth. She coughed up all the water that was in her lungs and she could finally see. She was at the pool on the floor outside of the water. She sat up and looked around.

“Are you okay Miss?”

Mckayla looked up at who spoke. She was met with dark brown eyes and a kind face. She couldn’t stop staring. This was the most beautiful face she had ever seen. It might have been her post-CPR mind or the vast amounts of chlorine in her system, but she felt like she could get lost in those eyes forever. She was violently ripped out of her stupor when the girl called to her again.

“Miss, can you hear me?”

“Oh! Yes…”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I am now.”

The mystery girl smiled and Mckayla’s heart stopped. “T-Thank you so much for, um, helping me.”

“It’s not problem as long as you’re okay.”

“Um, do you know what happened?”

The girl thought for a moment. “You got in the water and started to panic and then you passed out so I jumped in and got you out and performed CPR.”

“Oh, thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Could I get the name of the beauty who saved my life?”

Mckayla started screaming at herself on the inside. I can’t believe I just said that I can’t believe I just said that I can’t believe I just said that I can’t believe I just said that I can’t believe I just said that I can’t believe I just said that. Oh, my God I messed up, she’s gonna hate me and everyone else is gonna hate me and I’m gonna be banned from here forever God help me.

Despite all of these thoughts, none of them came to truth. The girl just giggled and complied.

“Nicole.”

“Well, Nicole, I’m Mckayla.”

“Well, Mckayla, I hope that I get to see you again.”

“Yeah, hopefully not under the same circumstances but, yeah.”

They both laughed and Nicole offered to walk her out. After walking her to her car, they shared goodbyes again and went their separate ways. Mckayla got home and couldn’t get Nicole’s kind eyes out of her head.

\--

Jared started becoming a common presence in the band room. It was like he was part of the band even though he didn’t play at all. When he mentioned to Daniel that wished he could be in marching band, he said that he should join the color guard.

“What’s that?”

“It’s like, flags and stuff.”

“Oh.”

“You would be in marching band and you don’t need to have any experience.”

It sounded too good to be true for Jared. He would finally have a legitimate reason for being at all of the rehearsals. He always felt kind of like a nuisance. Yeah, it was fun hanging out with all the band kids, but whenever they would start playing or start talking about music, Jared just couldn’t join in and he started to feel like he shouldn’t be there. Now that he’ll be in color guard, he’ll be in the marching band, it sounded like a perfect situation.

 

Jared was starting to regret his decision. Everyday, he was aching everywhere all the time. He had never really been in shape. He did some extracurriculars to make friends and fill time, but he never did sports, he had no muscle. He tried basketball, football, baseball, and soccer. Sports just weren’t his thing, so being thrown into something that requires so much physical strain was difficult for Jared to handle.

Despite all of this, Jared was having the time of his life. He’s in a group with the nicest people he’s ever met. Him and all the girls get along so well, and the director is so understanding and nice. He’s picked the skills up fast and he’s excited for everything that he’s going to learn.

Another thing about marching band that will never be boring, is the relationships between the people in it. So many people have dated each other and broken up with each other, it’s like Fleetwood Mac. He always hears second-hand comments and sees how certain people interact with each other. Sometimes people would just tell him things out of the blue like he was going to be tested on it in a few weeks.

“Hey, did you know that she dated her brother three years ago and she cheated on him with some slut from uptown and he was so heartbroken that he ran away from home for, like, a week or something.”

“That sucks.”

“Yeah, but don’t ask her about it though and don’t tell her I told you.”

“Alright.”

Jared’s heard a lot of stories about grudges and back-stabbing, yet everyone gets along famously during practices and stuff. It’s as if everyone forgives and forgets and they’re all friends again. Jared has never been in an environment like this and he can’t believe that it’s real. He feels a longing to experience this kind of treatment from his brother.

One day, during a percussion sectional, Jared shared his thoughts on this with Tom.

“I haven’t heard anything about the percussionists, though.”

“That’s because the percussionists don’t share their drama with the rest of the band.”

“So...what happened?”

“Well, lots of stuff. The percussionists probably have more drama than the rest of the band. Like how, when Jess was in her freshman year, she asked a junior trumpet player to a dance and she rejected her so hard, she dropped out of band just to avoid seeing her.”

“Oh, wow, that’s...that sucks.”

“Yeah, I only heard about it from the trumpet girl because she was my older sister’s friend. But whenever anyone asked about what had happened to her, nobody told her. I think that experience is why Jess is so mean and hard to read. She’s afraid of getting hurt again”

“Wow, I would have never guessed.”

“Yeah. Oh man! You should have seen what she used to look like, she looked way different! She had this long, blonde hair and she wore these polo shirts. She was such a nerdy lookin’ kid. She was also really short and chubby, she grew, like, a lot over this one summer and she got really in shape, it was crazy.”

“I wouldn’t have recognized her.”

“Yeah, She completely changed over one summer. Cut and bleached her hair, dyed the sides black, she got these, like, piercings, started wearing all these, black, sexy clothes. It was insane, no one recognized her.”

“I can’t believe it, was all of that because of the trumpet player?”

“Not entirely, but yeah, that was a big part of it.”

\--


End file.
